travel has got a lot easier in the past 40 years. Vehicles are faster and more efficient; far more people have driving licences; many households now own two cars. Public transport has improved. Even bicycles are lighter and zippier. The broad perception is that the country’s transport networks are creaking under the strain of so many people.
在過去的40年里，國內(nèi)出行變得更加便利。交通工具更加快捷更加高效；越來越多的人持有駕照；很多家庭現(xiàn)在擁有兩輛車。甚至，自行車也變得更加輕便靈活?，F(xiàn)在，大家普遍感覺到，國家的交通網(wǎng)在這么多人的壓力下開始喘息。
Yet, oddly, people are travelling less. Car and van mileage has fallen over the past four years, mainly because of the economic slump. Yet this comes atop a longer-run trend: for around 15 years, Britons have been making fewer journeys (see first chart). According to the Department for Transport, the average person now goes on only slightly more trips than he did in the early 1970s, mostly by car. Between the mid-1990s and 2010 individuals made 19% fewer shopping outings. Jaunts to see friends dropped by fully 22%, thanks to a fall in visits to private homes (see second chart). Why?
然而，奇怪的是，人們的出行正在減少。小汽車和小貨車的行駛里程在過去的四年里下跌，經(jīng)濟蕭條是主要原因。但這卻是一個長期的趨勢：近15年來，英國人出行越來越少（見表1）。據(jù)英國交通部說，普通人現(xiàn)在的出行頻率只比七十年代初期高一點點，而且大部分是乘車出行。在九十年代中期到2010年間，人們的購物出行減少了19%。會見好友的短途出行下降了整整22%，這要歸因于拜訪私人住宅的減少（見表2）。這是為什么呢？
The trend is not entirely restricted to Britain. There has been a roughly concurrent decline in shopping trips in America, for example, as well as a fall-off in commuting and business trips. But the British trend is particularly stark, partly because Britain collects unusually good, timely data on how its people move.
這一趨勢并不僅僅出現(xiàn)在英國。例如，在美國，同樣出現(xiàn)了購物出行減少的狀況，通勤和商務旅行亦是如此。但是，英國的交通趨勢的變化尤為突出，在某種程度上是因為，在英國，數(shù)據(jù)的收集工作做得異乎尋常地好，數(shù)據(jù)及時地顯示了人們?nèi)绾我苿印?BR> The drop in shopping trips is fairly straightforward. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says there has been a switch from frequent, short journeys on foot to longer, more occasional car trips. Despite the previous Labour government’s “town centre first” policy to promote shopping in urban areas, since 2000 the number of out-of-town stores has continued to grow, whereas more than 45,000 town centre and neighbourhood shops have shut, according to Verdict Research, a retail consultancy.
購物出行的下降是相當直接的。英國國家統(tǒng)計局（ONS）表示，已有的一個趨勢是，從頻繁的短途步行出行向較長的更加偶然的乘車出行轉(zhuǎn)變。一家零售業(yè)咨詢公司裁決研究的數(shù)據(jù)表明，盡管先前工黨政府的“市中心優(yōu)先“政策促進了城市地區(qū)的購物行為，但2000年以來，城郊商場的數(shù)量持續(xù)增長，與此相反的是超過四萬五千個市中心和鄰里商店關(guān)門大吉。
Shops are bigger and farther apart. Changes in how food is grown, packed and stored mean some foodstuffs last longer; more people have big freezers to keep supplies. Yet the growing dominance of well-stocked chain stores even in town centres reinforces the trend towards fewer trips, both for groceries and for other products.
商店變得越來越大，并且相距越來越遠。食物成熟、包裝和貯藏的各項工藝的變化意味著一些食品可以保持更長的時間；更多的人用大冰柜保存日常供給。在城市中心的那些備貨充足的連鎖商店日漸提高的地位依然鞏固了出行減少的趨勢，生活用品和其他商品皆是如此。
Internet shopping has also taken off in the past 15 years. Almost nothing was sold online in 1995. Now e-commerce, worth ￡68 billion ($110 billion) in 2011, accounts for 17% of all retail spending in Britain according to IMRG, a consultancy. This has also shifted a class of travel from personal shopping into freight, where vans or lorries do multiple drops as the final stage of a logistic process, says Phil Goodwin of UCL and the University of the West of England.
網(wǎng)購的熱潮同樣在過去的15年里興起。1995年，網(wǎng)上幾乎不販賣任何東西。據(jù)咨詢公司互動媒體零售集團（IMRG)說，現(xiàn)在，電子商務占英國所有零售開銷的17%——在2011年價值680億英鎊（1100億美元）。UCL和西英格蘭大學的菲爾•古德溫說，這也改變了一種交通運輸方式：從個人購物轉(zhuǎn)變成貨物運輸，這種貨物運輸是由火車或卡車做多次運送完成的，是物流過程的最后階段。
The decline in visiting friends and family at home is harder to explain. Inflation-busting petrol prices may have deterred people from making social trips, whereas they have to keep shopping and going to work. Because new cars are more fuel-efficient than old ones, and because their price has risen less than other items, the cost of motoring has actually fallen in real terms. But, since many people focus on the cost per litre of petrol, rather than the cost per mile, rising pump prices may have had some effect on travel patterns.
到對方家里會見朋友和家人的頻率的減少更難解釋。通貨膨脹克星——石油價格——可能使人們打消了社交出行的念頭，與此同時，人們卻無法避免出門購物和上班。由于新型小汽車比老款車更加省油，并且其價格要比其他商品上升的慢些，扣除物價因素，駕駛汽車的成本實際上是下降了。但是，自從多數(shù)人開始關(guān)注每升汽油的花費而不是每英里的花費后，不斷上升的油價可能對出行方式產(chǎn)生了一些影響。
Another explanation for the drop in social trips could be the rise of women in the paid workforce, from 42% in 1971 to 68% now. “Couch and kitchen socialising has basically died out,” says Jonathan Gershuny, a sociologist at Oxford University. The decline in home visits over the past 15 years may be part of a much longer-run trend, in which case it is the tail end of that bigger societal change. Unfortunately, there is no comparable data for the years before 1995.
對社交出行頻率下降的另一種解釋是，更多的女性成為了有償勞動力，從1971年的42%上升到現(xiàn)在的68%。牛津大學的一位社會學家喬納森•喬謝利說：“沙發(fā)和廚房社交已經(jīng)基本絕跡了?！钡郊依锇菰L頻率在過去15年里的下降，可能是一種更長遠趨勢的一部分，在這種情況下，這是較大社會變革的末期?？上У氖?，在1995年以前，沒有可比數(shù)據(jù)。
Another possibility is that people are better able to entertain themselves at home. Television, by far the most time-consuming leisure activity, has certainly become more varied: the number of homes with multichannel TV has increased from 7.6m to 25.7m since 2000. Yet television-viewing increased by only 20 minutes a day on average, to four hours, according to BARB, which measures ratings. It can account for some of Britons’ reluctance to go out, but not much.
還有一種可能性是，人們可以更好的在家自娛自樂。電視——目前為止最能殺時間的休閑活動——變得更加多樣化：擁有多頻道電視的家庭數(shù)量從760萬增加到2000年的2570萬。然而，統(tǒng)計收視率的英國廣播聽眾研究理事會表示，人們看電視的時間從平均每天20分鐘上升到每天4個小時。這可以對為什么一些英國人不愿出門做出解釋，但也就而已。
As with retail, the internet is the biggest innovation of the past two decades. In 1995 few households had internet access; e-mail was just starting up. Now more than three-quarters of houses are connected to the web, according to Nielsen, a research outfit; internet users spend an average of 50 hours a month online at home. Social-networking sites are used by 60% of all British households, and account for more than a fifth of all time spent on the internet.
就零售業(yè)來說，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)過去二十年來是最偉大的革新。在1995年，幾乎沒有哪戶家庭接入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)、電子郵件才剛剛起步。據(jù)一個調(diào)查機構(gòu)尼爾森統(tǒng)計，現(xiàn)在超過四分之三的家庭可以連接上網(wǎng)；互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶平均每月在家花50個小時上網(wǎng)。60%的英國家庭使用社交網(wǎng)絡類的網(wǎng)站，并且社交網(wǎng)絡占上網(wǎng)總時間的五分之一。
Trip trap
出行圈套
A rise in hours spent staring at computer screens and televisions—and a concurrent decline in journeys to see friends at home—does not necessarily mean that Britain is becoming a nation of hermits. Mr Gershuny argues that those who engage with friends online also tend to see them more in person, even controlling for age. The internet may make socialising more “efficient” and diverse—people can research and plan where they are going, or what they want to buy, eat or do when they are out. In fact, many trips to visit friends at home are being replaced by jaunts out with friends, reckons Oriel Sullivan of Oxford University.
盯著電腦屏幕和電視機的時間越來越長——與此同時越來越少的是去朋友家里拜訪——不一定意味著英國變成了一個隱士之國。喬謝利先生認為，那些與朋友在網(wǎng)上聊天同樣傾向于進行更多的當面交流，甚至超越了年齡。互聯(lián)網(wǎng)可能使社交更“高效”，并且更形式多樣——人們可以研究和計劃他們將要去的地方，或當他們要出行時他們想要買的東西、吃的食物或做的事情。牛津大學的奧利爾•沙利文推測，事實上，很多去朋友家拜訪的出行被和朋友一起遠行所代替。
The ONS’s national well-being survey suggests that socialising with friends is still one of the most popular pastimes. People spend more time chatting on the phone too. Yet the travel data may obscure such engagement because socialising is increasingly combined with another activity. The number of trips to meet friends outside their homes has held steady. Other types of outing have become more popular, such as what the ONS describes as “entertainment or public activity” and “day trips”, all of which are likely to include friends or family. For many people, work is also a social encounter.
英國國家統(tǒng)計局的國家幸福感調(diào)查顯示，與朋友社交仍然是最流行的消遣方式之一。人們也花更多的時間煲電話粥。然而，出行數(shù)據(jù)可能掩蓋了這種約會，因為社交活動日益與其他活動結(jié)合起來。在家以外的地方會見朋友的頻率保持穩(wěn)定。其他出行方式變得越來越流行，正像統(tǒng)計局描述的“娛樂或公共活動”以及“一日游”，都有可能包括朋友或家人。對許多人來說，工作同樣是一種社交方式。
Retail travel also follows this trend. Despite the decline of the high street, there are more grocery shops at transport hubs such as railway stations, which makes buying fresh food possible without a special outing. “Multitasking” has become a popular shorthand for the predicament of modern workers. It may increasingly apply to their leisure time too.
零售業(yè)的出行也遵循這種趨勢。盡管主干道的交通量下降，但更多的雜貨店開在像火車站這種交通樞紐地段，這使得無需另外出行就能購買到新鮮食物成為可能?！岸嘀厝蝿仗幚怼币呀?jīng)成為一種非常受陷入窘境的現(xiàn)代員工歡迎的一種快捷方式。這也可能會逐漸應用到他們的業(yè)余時間中。
【生詞/詞組】
inflation-busting 通貨膨脹克星
in real terms [金融詞匯]扣除物價因素；按實質(zhì)計算
comparable data 參照數(shù)據(jù)；可比數(shù)據(jù)
BARB Broadcaster's Audience Research Board (英國)廣播聽眾研究理事會
day trip 當天來回的短途旅行；一日游
【注釋】
關(guān)于“town centre first” policy，市中心優(yōu)先，是工黨政府于1997年在英國實施的一項規(guī)劃政策，其中，市中心優(yōu)先致力于做到：
• Distinctive and attractive town centres
有特色的有魅力的城市中心
• Strong and sustainable local economies
強有力的可持續(xù)性的地方經(jīng)濟
• Access to high quality shopping provision for those without or preferring not to use a car
為不使用小汽車的人提供高品質(zhì)購物條例
• Retail use properly contributing to sustainable patterns of development with a low carbon impact
以低碳為前提，正確引導零售業(yè)向可持續(xù)發(fā)展模式跟進
• A good choice of where to shop for everyone.
為每個人提供一個良好的購物選擇
• Avoid overprovision of large scale retail businesses which damages the diversity of the retail offering in a community
避免大規(guī)模零售商業(yè)的過度供給，反之將會破壞社區(qū)零售業(yè)的多樣性
但是，其實施結(jié)果卻不甚理想。
在過去的40年里，國內(nèi)出行變得更加便利。交通工具更加快捷更加高效；越來越多的人持有駕照；很多家庭現(xiàn)在擁有兩輛車。甚至，自行車也變得更加輕便靈活?，F(xiàn)在，大家普遍感覺到，國家的交通網(wǎng)在這么多人的壓力下開始喘息。
Yet, oddly, people are travelling less. Car and van mileage has fallen over the past four years, mainly because of the economic slump. Yet this comes atop a longer-run trend: for around 15 years, Britons have been making fewer journeys (see first chart). According to the Department for Transport, the average person now goes on only slightly more trips than he did in the early 1970s, mostly by car. Between the mid-1990s and 2010 individuals made 19% fewer shopping outings. Jaunts to see friends dropped by fully 22%, thanks to a fall in visits to private homes (see second chart). Why?
然而，奇怪的是，人們的出行正在減少。小汽車和小貨車的行駛里程在過去的四年里下跌，經(jīng)濟蕭條是主要原因。但這卻是一個長期的趨勢：近15年來，英國人出行越來越少（見表1）。據(jù)英國交通部說，普通人現(xiàn)在的出行頻率只比七十年代初期高一點點，而且大部分是乘車出行。在九十年代中期到2010年間，人們的購物出行減少了19%。會見好友的短途出行下降了整整22%，這要歸因于拜訪私人住宅的減少（見表2）。這是為什么呢？
The trend is not entirely restricted to Britain. There has been a roughly concurrent decline in shopping trips in America, for example, as well as a fall-off in commuting and business trips. But the British trend is particularly stark, partly because Britain collects unusually good, timely data on how its people move.
這一趨勢并不僅僅出現(xiàn)在英國。例如，在美國，同樣出現(xiàn)了購物出行減少的狀況，通勤和商務旅行亦是如此。但是，英國的交通趨勢的變化尤為突出，在某種程度上是因為，在英國，數(shù)據(jù)的收集工作做得異乎尋常地好，數(shù)據(jù)及時地顯示了人們?nèi)绾我苿印?BR> The drop in shopping trips is fairly straightforward. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says there has been a switch from frequent, short journeys on foot to longer, more occasional car trips. Despite the previous Labour government’s “town centre first” policy to promote shopping in urban areas, since 2000 the number of out-of-town stores has continued to grow, whereas more than 45,000 town centre and neighbourhood shops have shut, according to Verdict Research, a retail consultancy.
購物出行的下降是相當直接的。英國國家統(tǒng)計局（ONS）表示，已有的一個趨勢是，從頻繁的短途步行出行向較長的更加偶然的乘車出行轉(zhuǎn)變。一家零售業(yè)咨詢公司裁決研究的數(shù)據(jù)表明，盡管先前工黨政府的“市中心優(yōu)先“政策促進了城市地區(qū)的購物行為，但2000年以來，城郊商場的數(shù)量持續(xù)增長，與此相反的是超過四萬五千個市中心和鄰里商店關(guān)門大吉。
Shops are bigger and farther apart. Changes in how food is grown, packed and stored mean some foodstuffs last longer; more people have big freezers to keep supplies. Yet the growing dominance of well-stocked chain stores even in town centres reinforces the trend towards fewer trips, both for groceries and for other products.
商店變得越來越大，并且相距越來越遠。食物成熟、包裝和貯藏的各項工藝的變化意味著一些食品可以保持更長的時間；更多的人用大冰柜保存日常供給。在城市中心的那些備貨充足的連鎖商店日漸提高的地位依然鞏固了出行減少的趨勢，生活用品和其他商品皆是如此。
Internet shopping has also taken off in the past 15 years. Almost nothing was sold online in 1995. Now e-commerce, worth ￡68 billion ($110 billion) in 2011, accounts for 17% of all retail spending in Britain according to IMRG, a consultancy. This has also shifted a class of travel from personal shopping into freight, where vans or lorries do multiple drops as the final stage of a logistic process, says Phil Goodwin of UCL and the University of the West of England.
網(wǎng)購的熱潮同樣在過去的15年里興起。1995年，網(wǎng)上幾乎不販賣任何東西。據(jù)咨詢公司互動媒體零售集團（IMRG)說，現(xiàn)在，電子商務占英國所有零售開銷的17%——在2011年價值680億英鎊（1100億美元）。UCL和西英格蘭大學的菲爾•古德溫說，這也改變了一種交通運輸方式：從個人購物轉(zhuǎn)變成貨物運輸，這種貨物運輸是由火車或卡車做多次運送完成的，是物流過程的最后階段。
The decline in visiting friends and family at home is harder to explain. Inflation-busting petrol prices may have deterred people from making social trips, whereas they have to keep shopping and going to work. Because new cars are more fuel-efficient than old ones, and because their price has risen less than other items, the cost of motoring has actually fallen in real terms. But, since many people focus on the cost per litre of petrol, rather than the cost per mile, rising pump prices may have had some effect on travel patterns.
到對方家里會見朋友和家人的頻率的減少更難解釋。通貨膨脹克星——石油價格——可能使人們打消了社交出行的念頭，與此同時，人們卻無法避免出門購物和上班。由于新型小汽車比老款車更加省油，并且其價格要比其他商品上升的慢些，扣除物價因素，駕駛汽車的成本實際上是下降了。但是，自從多數(shù)人開始關(guān)注每升汽油的花費而不是每英里的花費后，不斷上升的油價可能對出行方式產(chǎn)生了一些影響。
Another explanation for the drop in social trips could be the rise of women in the paid workforce, from 42% in 1971 to 68% now. “Couch and kitchen socialising has basically died out,” says Jonathan Gershuny, a sociologist at Oxford University. The decline in home visits over the past 15 years may be part of a much longer-run trend, in which case it is the tail end of that bigger societal change. Unfortunately, there is no comparable data for the years before 1995.
對社交出行頻率下降的另一種解釋是，更多的女性成為了有償勞動力，從1971年的42%上升到現(xiàn)在的68%。牛津大學的一位社會學家喬納森•喬謝利說：“沙發(fā)和廚房社交已經(jīng)基本絕跡了?！钡郊依锇菰L頻率在過去15年里的下降，可能是一種更長遠趨勢的一部分，在這種情況下，這是較大社會變革的末期?？上У氖?，在1995年以前，沒有可比數(shù)據(jù)。
Another possibility is that people are better able to entertain themselves at home. Television, by far the most time-consuming leisure activity, has certainly become more varied: the number of homes with multichannel TV has increased from 7.6m to 25.7m since 2000. Yet television-viewing increased by only 20 minutes a day on average, to four hours, according to BARB, which measures ratings. It can account for some of Britons’ reluctance to go out, but not much.
還有一種可能性是，人們可以更好的在家自娛自樂。電視——目前為止最能殺時間的休閑活動——變得更加多樣化：擁有多頻道電視的家庭數(shù)量從760萬增加到2000年的2570萬。然而，統(tǒng)計收視率的英國廣播聽眾研究理事會表示，人們看電視的時間從平均每天20分鐘上升到每天4個小時。這可以對為什么一些英國人不愿出門做出解釋，但也就而已。
As with retail, the internet is the biggest innovation of the past two decades. In 1995 few households had internet access; e-mail was just starting up. Now more than three-quarters of houses are connected to the web, according to Nielsen, a research outfit; internet users spend an average of 50 hours a month online at home. Social-networking sites are used by 60% of all British households, and account for more than a fifth of all time spent on the internet.
就零售業(yè)來說，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)過去二十年來是最偉大的革新。在1995年，幾乎沒有哪戶家庭接入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)、電子郵件才剛剛起步。據(jù)一個調(diào)查機構(gòu)尼爾森統(tǒng)計，現(xiàn)在超過四分之三的家庭可以連接上網(wǎng)；互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶平均每月在家花50個小時上網(wǎng)。60%的英國家庭使用社交網(wǎng)絡類的網(wǎng)站，并且社交網(wǎng)絡占上網(wǎng)總時間的五分之一。
Trip trap
出行圈套
A rise in hours spent staring at computer screens and televisions—and a concurrent decline in journeys to see friends at home—does not necessarily mean that Britain is becoming a nation of hermits. Mr Gershuny argues that those who engage with friends online also tend to see them more in person, even controlling for age. The internet may make socialising more “efficient” and diverse—people can research and plan where they are going, or what they want to buy, eat or do when they are out. In fact, many trips to visit friends at home are being replaced by jaunts out with friends, reckons Oriel Sullivan of Oxford University.
盯著電腦屏幕和電視機的時間越來越長——與此同時越來越少的是去朋友家里拜訪——不一定意味著英國變成了一個隱士之國。喬謝利先生認為，那些與朋友在網(wǎng)上聊天同樣傾向于進行更多的當面交流，甚至超越了年齡。互聯(lián)網(wǎng)可能使社交更“高效”，并且更形式多樣——人們可以研究和計劃他們將要去的地方，或當他們要出行時他們想要買的東西、吃的食物或做的事情。牛津大學的奧利爾•沙利文推測，事實上，很多去朋友家拜訪的出行被和朋友一起遠行所代替。
The ONS’s national well-being survey suggests that socialising with friends is still one of the most popular pastimes. People spend more time chatting on the phone too. Yet the travel data may obscure such engagement because socialising is increasingly combined with another activity. The number of trips to meet friends outside their homes has held steady. Other types of outing have become more popular, such as what the ONS describes as “entertainment or public activity” and “day trips”, all of which are likely to include friends or family. For many people, work is also a social encounter.
英國國家統(tǒng)計局的國家幸福感調(diào)查顯示，與朋友社交仍然是最流行的消遣方式之一。人們也花更多的時間煲電話粥。然而，出行數(shù)據(jù)可能掩蓋了這種約會，因為社交活動日益與其他活動結(jié)合起來。在家以外的地方會見朋友的頻率保持穩(wěn)定。其他出行方式變得越來越流行，正像統(tǒng)計局描述的“娛樂或公共活動”以及“一日游”，都有可能包括朋友或家人。對許多人來說，工作同樣是一種社交方式。
Retail travel also follows this trend. Despite the decline of the high street, there are more grocery shops at transport hubs such as railway stations, which makes buying fresh food possible without a special outing. “Multitasking” has become a popular shorthand for the predicament of modern workers. It may increasingly apply to their leisure time too.
零售業(yè)的出行也遵循這種趨勢。盡管主干道的交通量下降，但更多的雜貨店開在像火車站這種交通樞紐地段，這使得無需另外出行就能購買到新鮮食物成為可能?！岸嘀厝蝿仗幚怼币呀?jīng)成為一種非常受陷入窘境的現(xiàn)代員工歡迎的一種快捷方式。這也可能會逐漸應用到他們的業(yè)余時間中。
【生詞/詞組】
inflation-busting 通貨膨脹克星
in real terms [金融詞匯]扣除物價因素；按實質(zhì)計算
comparable data 參照數(shù)據(jù)；可比數(shù)據(jù)
BARB Broadcaster's Audience Research Board (英國)廣播聽眾研究理事會
day trip 當天來回的短途旅行；一日游
【注釋】
關(guān)于“town centre first” policy，市中心優(yōu)先，是工黨政府于1997年在英國實施的一項規(guī)劃政策，其中，市中心優(yōu)先致力于做到：
• Distinctive and attractive town centres
有特色的有魅力的城市中心
• Strong and sustainable local economies
強有力的可持續(xù)性的地方經(jīng)濟
• Access to high quality shopping provision for those without or preferring not to use a car
為不使用小汽車的人提供高品質(zhì)購物條例
• Retail use properly contributing to sustainable patterns of development with a low carbon impact
以低碳為前提，正確引導零售業(yè)向可持續(xù)發(fā)展模式跟進
• A good choice of where to shop for everyone.
為每個人提供一個良好的購物選擇
• Avoid overprovision of large scale retail businesses which damages the diversity of the retail offering in a community
避免大規(guī)模零售商業(yè)的過度供給，反之將會破壞社區(qū)零售業(yè)的多樣性
但是，其實施結(jié)果卻不甚理想。